FAQ: TUPE Cohort N Tier 1 Reqest for Applcations (CA Dept of Education)

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Frequently Asked Questions

Tobacco-Use Prevention Education Program Tier 1 Applications

Below are answers to questions submitted in response to previousTobacco-Use Prevention Education (TUPE) Program Competitive Grant Tier 1 Request for Applications (RFA).

Prospective applicants are urged to review all Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) in preparation for submitting a TUPE Tier 1 application.

Question 1: Is alocal educational agency(LEA)that is awarded a Tier 1 grant only required to conduct the California Healthy Kids Survey (CHKS)in seventh, ninth, and eleventh grades?

Answer 1: All TUPE-funded LEAs that serve students in any of grades seven, nine, and eleven must conduct the CHKS for the seventh, ninth, and eleventh grades. For an LEA serving students inkindergarten through twelfth grade (K–12), use of the fifth grade CHKS Module would be optional.

Question 2: Does the RFA also require grantees to conduct the CHKS in fifth grade?

Answer 2: Any LEA awarded a Tier 1 grant that only serves students in grades kindergarten through sixth grade (K–6) is required to conduct the CHKS Elementary Module in fifthor sixth grade. There are a limited number of LEAs that only serve students in grades K–6.The requirement to conduct the CHKS for fifth or sixth grade only applies to those K–6 LEAs.

Question 3: Is akindergarten through eighth grade (K–8)LEA awarded a Tier 1 grantrequired to conduct the CHKS infifth grade or is doing so optional?

Answer 3: A K–8 LEA's use of the CHKS fifth grade module would be optional and conducting the CHKS in seventh grade would be required.

Question 4: Is the County Office of Education (COE) TUPE Coordinator responsible for keeping the county LEAs on the same CHKS administration cycle?

Answer 4: Yes, the COE TUPE Coordinator is responsible for keeping the county LEAs on the same CHKS administration cycle. However, that is a goal not every county can meet. Having all the LEAs on the same CHKS schedule is a goal to work toward.

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Question 5: Are locally-funded charter schools that are awarded a Tier 1 grant required to conduct the CHKS? Are charter schools serving collegeage students required to conduct the CHKS?

Answer 5: Locally-funded charter schools are not eligible to apply for TUPE funding. The extent to which a TUPE grantee provides aTUPE-funded program and services to students in locally-funded charter schools is determined locally.

Students from locally-funded charter schools servingseventh, ninth, or eleventh grades may participate in the CHKS. Please consult the CHKS Technical Assistance Center before deciding to conduct the CHKS with college age students.

Question 6: The RFA states:All TUPE grantees must conduct the CHKS within the first year of funding and at least every other year thereafter as long as TUPE funds are received. If the LEA administered the CHKS in the year prior to the start of the grant, the grantee may continue with the same biennial schedule for administering the Survey in the second year of the grant.

Our LEAs have always administered the survey in late fall (November) in the odd numbered years. This means that our LEAs will have to administer the CHKS twice during the three year term of the Tier 1 grant. The CHKS would have to be done in both year one and year three of the grant. Other LEAs would only have to administer the survey in the second year. The CHKS costs will not be equal. Is this correct?

Answer 6: That is correct. The grant term (for Cohort N grantees) is from July 2018 to June 2021. Any grantee that did the CHKS in 2015–16 will have to administer the CHKS again in 2018–19 and again in 2020–21. Tier 1 grantee's CHKS costs are not all equal in any given three-year period. Eventually every Tier 1 grantee's CHKS costs will even out.

Question 7: Is it necessary to include a Tier 1 consortium Letter of Agreement (LOA) between the COE and WestEd for the purpose of conducting the CHKS? Or, is it assumed that WestEd will provide CHKS services?

Answer 7: A Tier 1 consortium application must include an LOA only with those LEAs that qualify for the receipt of TUPE grant funding. WestEd should not be included in a Tier 1 consortium LOA.

Question 8: Do applicants have to submit the Tobacco-Free School Certification form with the Tier 1 application or will the California Department of Education (CDE) already have the Tobacco-Free School Certification form on file?

Answer 8: Tier 1 applicants should not submit the Tobacco-Free School Certification form with the application. The California Department of Education (CDE) already has those forms on file.

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Question 9: Is it allowable to pay for clerical support costs using the TUPE Tier 1 grant award? Is there a limited allowable cost for clerical support thatTier 1 can support?

Answer 9: The Cohort M RFA purposely provides no guidance about salaries except to state that funds should support a TUPE Project Coordinator position and that consortium funding can be retained at the COE to support the COE TUPE Coordinator's costs related to implementing Tier 1 grants. The Tier 1 RFA only requires an applicant to submit a budget summary and not a budget justification. A Tier 1 grantee can fund a clerical person if the COE TUPE Coordinator thinks it is justifiable.

Question 10: Mustthe budget summary include allocated dollars for certificated and/or classified salaries if the district will be responsible for the salaries and the Tier 1 funding will not be utilized?

Answer 10: The Tier 1 Project Budget Summary should only show how TUPE Tier 1 funding is allocated and should not include funding from any other source. The budget summary submitted with the Tier 1 application should not total more than $4,500 per LEA applicant. Do not show in-kind support or LEA funding from any other source when submitting the Tier 1 Project Budget Summary.

Question 11: Is there any particular format that applicants should use to present the narrative for a Tier 1 consortium?

Answer 111: There are format requirements for a Tier 1 consortium. Please review Attachment D and see pages 11 and 12 of this RFA for a summary of format requirements.

Question 12: May a Tier 1 grant that includes the LEA’s Alternative Education and Special Education Programs only serve these programs within the district?

Answer 12: No. The Tier 1 grant obligates the LEA to adopt and enforce the Tobacco-Free School Policy at all schools, facilities, vehicles, and property operated by the LEA. The policy would apply to every program and every site. The CHKS requirement would require the LEA to administer the surveywith every student in seventh, ninth, and eleventh grades served by that LEA, in all programs and settings for which the LEA is responsible.

Question 13: Can the budget for a consortium propose that the COE retain part of the funds at the COE to support the COE TUPE Coordinator costs and distribute part of the funds to the consortium members to support the LEA’s Project Coordinator costs?

Answer 13: Yes. The COETUPE Coordinator acting as lead of a consortium may use Tier 1 grant funds to support costs related to performing the duties described in the consortium’s LOA. The consortium can also allocate all or part of the grant funds to the member LEAs to support the TUPE Project Coordinator costs related to performing duties described in the consortium’s application and LOA.

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Question 14: Does the CDE want to see a detailed budget of how the money is spent at the LEA level?

Answer 14: No.The Tier 1 RFA does not require a budget justification with expenditure detail.A Tier 1 application must only include a Project Budget Summary.Tier 1 grantees will not be required to submit budget revision requests for approval.

Question 15: The TUPE RFA states that, “all original signatures in blue ink” are required. Is the Superintendent’s original signature in blue ink on the application cover sheet sufficient? Or must all the member LEA signatures for the LOA also be in blue ink? Will the Coordinated School Health and Safety Office (CSHSO) accept LOA signatures that are in black ink or otherwise scanned or copied?

Answer 15: The blue ink signature requirement only applies to the Application Cover Sheet (Attachment A).

Question 16: Do Tier 1 consortium applications from a county unified school district need an LOA when the LEA has one Superintendent for both the district and the COE and one COE TUPE Coordinator for both the district and the COE?

Answer 16: Yes. Every consortium applicant must submit anLOA even when the consortium is from a single LEA and COE with a common administration.The LOA should include the signatures of those LEA and COE staff that can best support the COE TUPE Coordinator to enforce the Tobacco-Free School Policy at all district and county owned property or conduct the CHKS. The key is to get agreements up front from those staff at both the LEA and COE who are best positioned to help implement the grant requirements.

Question 17: Can a single LEA applicant indicate on the cover sheet that they are applying as a single agency even if it is the LEA’s intent to later join with a pre-existing Tier 1 consortium?

Answer 17: A single LEA Tier 1 applicant must include an LOA from the COE TUPE Coordinator. The LOA can describe how the individual LEA might participate in a pre-existing Tier 1 consortium’s efforts to create an economy of scale for supporting Tier 1 grant requirements.

Question 18: Must the LOA follow the same technical requirements for using 12-point Arial font as required for the Narrative asinstructed in the RFA?

Answer 18: No. However, to the extent possible, an LOA should follow the same application technical requirements as the Narrative asdescribed in the RFA.

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Question 19: Does the COE TUPE Coordinator write anLOA for the COE Tier 1 application?

Answer 19: Yes. The applicant is the COE on behalf of all students attending COE-operated sites and programs and the COE TUPE Coordinator has the same Tier 1 obligations as with any other LEA.

Question 20: Can a district apply for the total $6,000 no matter how small they are as long as they meet the criteria in the application?

Answer 20: Yes.They will need the COE TUPE Coordinator’s LOA.That letter is the coordinator’s assurance to the CSHSO that the applicant will support the coordinator’s efforts to ensure the policy will be enforced and the CHKS administered.

Question 21: In a consortium with two small districts, does each district qualify for the $6,000? Do you prefer the county submit a consortium application for them?

Answer 21: Yes. The CSHSO prefers that Tier 1 applicants apply as a consortium, although it is not required. Each consortium LEA member qualifies for $6,000.A consortium of two LEAs would apply for $12,000.The consortium application would still be limited to five pages plus the roster of consortium members. The content would apply equally to all consortium members.

Question 22: Must the LOA for the Tier 1 consortium include the signatures from each of the participating LEAs? Or is it sufficient to only submit a list of participating LEAs (Attachment B)?

Answer 22: A Tier 1 consortium applicant must submit both anLOA and the Local Educational Agency Consortium Participant Identification Form (Attachment B). It would be wise to have each LEA consortium member sign the LOA.Please limit the LOAnarrative to one page of text.No applicant will be disqualified if the LOA has one or more additional pages to accommodate the consortium member signatures.

Question 23: It is really not possible to get all signatures on one LOA page for the 20 districts participating in the consortium. Is it OK to attach individual LOA signature pages from each member district?

Answer 23: It is acceptable to attach additional LOA signature pages to accommodate all of the districts agreeing to the consortium’s LOA.Please limit the LOAnarrative text to one page and use as many pages as needed for signatures.

California Dept of Education

Created August 16, 2017